Sunbird第四次作业Argument117

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Argument117 The following is a memo from the business manager of Valu-Mart stores.
"Over 70 percent of the respondents to a recent survey reported that they are required to take more work home with them from the workplace than they were in the past. Since Valu-Mart has not seen impressive sales in its office-supply departments in the past, we
should take advantage of this work-at-home trend by increasing at all Valu-Mart stores the stock of home office machines such as printers, small copy machines, paper shredders, and fax machines. We will also increase stock of office supplies such as paper, pens, and staplers. With these changes, our office-supply departments will become the most profitable component of our stores."

            Words：420      Time：2 hours
In this memo, the business manager of Valu-Mart stores recommended to increase at all Valu-Mart stores the stock of home office machines such as printers, small copy machines, paper shredders, and fax machines, and he concluded that their office –supply departments will become the most profitable component of their stores. To support his conclusion, the manager sited a recent survey which reported that over 70 percent of the respondents are required to take more work home with them from the workplace than they were in the past. I find this memo logically unconvincing in several respects.

     Firstly, the survey is poor convinced unless there were significant evidences to show that the respondents are representative of all the office workers. It’s entirely possible that the respondents are all from a small district, even just a big company. It’s also sound weakly if the respondents didn’t take the survey seriously, let alone that some mistakes made during the whole process of the survey.

Secondly, the manager didn’t point out what’s the nature of the work that the office workers taken home. As we didn’t know weather their works need office supplies, such as papers, pens, and staplers, we couldn’t make ourselves concede the manager’s recommendation. With the development of the technology, paper and pen are mostly replaced by computers. Thus, it’s probable that to accomplish the work the respondents just need a computer and the internet. In this case, increase the stock of paper, pens, and staplers, as the same as printers, small copy machines, paper shredders, and fax machines would be a waste of resource.
Even if the survey is sound and the implements that the manager recommended to increases are really necessary for the workers, the manager overlooks the competition they may face in the office-supply market. Maybe other companies have already produced abundant office implements, thus, without more marketing information about the office-supply, it is difficult to say that Valu-Mart would make a profit on the sales, let alone make their office-supply department become the most profitable component of their stores.

    In conclusion, the recommendation is not well supported. To convince me, the manager should provide clear evidences as follow: 1) Where the survey carried out, if the respondents are representative of overall the office workers. 2) What’s the reason for the increase of work taken home? And which kind of work the respondents required to take home? 3) What competition Valu-Mart would confront in the office-supply market, and what measure will Valu-Mart take to deal with their competitors.